Face book helps trap Italian mafia

Italian police have used social networking site Facebook to track down and capture one of the country's most-wanted fugitive mafia suspects.

Pasquale Manfredi, accused of being one of the top figures in the 'Ndrangheta mafia, was found in Calabria. The 33-year-old, who faces charges of murder, mafia association and drugs trafficking, was traced via his network of Facebook contacts. Reports suggest he called himself Scarface, after the film character.

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he was arrested as he tried to escape from the roof of the apartment complex near the southern city of Crotone. Believed to lead the 'Ndrangheta in the southern town, Pasquale Manfredi is also accused of possessing illegal armaments, including heavy weapons.

Police say the man - one of the country's 100 most-wanted suspects - was responsible for the 2004 murder of a member of a rival clan, who was killed with a portable rocket launcher.